The royals are formulating a two-year travel blitz to try and convince Commonwealth countries to stick with them—and the rest of the world that the royals still matter, the Mail on Sunday reports. King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William, and Kate Middleton hope “soft diplomacy” will do the trick as they smile and wave their ways around the world—with Kate and William mulling the possibility of taking their kids Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis with them. A palace source told the Mail: “State visits are back in business.” Charles has yet to visit any of the 14 Commonwealth realms outside the UK where he is head of state, the Mail reports, adding he and Camilla are heading to Kenya later this year—a Commonwealth country where Charles is not recognized as head of state. Kate and William will likely head to Singapore, with William also due in New York City in September. Charles and Camilla will also travel to France—a rescheduled trip after rioting scuppered a springtime sortie. Historian Ian Lloyd told the Mail: “A visit by Charles to Canada and one by the Waleses to Australia and New Zealand would capitalize on the global interest in the Coronation. They need to do this soon before that interest wanes—and taking the Waleses’ children would prove to be a PR triumph too.” However, last week, the Australian state of Victoria said the Commonwealth Games “do not represent value for money,” and pulled out of hosting the 2026 event. State premier Daniel Andrews said the projected cost had tripled and was “well and truly too much” for the state to foot the bill for. It was, Andrews said, “all cost and no benefit.” Of the 56 countries in the Commonwealth, the 14 realms that have King Charles as their monarch include Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. Some countries’ desire to leave the Commonwealth, and fully separate themselves from a monarchy so associated with the legacy of colonialism, has been hastened by Queen Elizabeth’s death. This week, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness confirmed his country’s desire to become a republic, adding there had always been a “strong love and respect” for the queen, and that Kate and William would be always welcome in Jamaica. Last year, William said on a visit to Jamaica, “I strongly agree with my father, the Prince of Wales, who said in Barbados last year that the appalling atrocity of slavery forever stains our history. I want to express my profound sorrow. Slavery was abhorrent. And it should never have happened.” | 